Somewhere Only We Know
by smilelaughread
Summary: Long-ish drabble/songfic. Ginny's thoughts and feelings on the umpcoming war, taking place during her sixth year at Hogwarts. This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know?


_**This story is based around the song "Somewhere Only We Know," by Keane. I do not own the song, though I suggest you listen to it because it's brilliant!**_

* * *

_I walked across_

_An empty land_

_I knew the pathways like the back of my hand_

The night was pitch-black, the clouds hiding the moon behind a layer of mist. She didn't need the aid of the moon, however, to navigate the familiar routes of the Hogwarts grounds. There was a thin layer of snow that, had it been a brighter night, would have been sparkling and shining like millions of diamonds. The sheen of the snow was dampened by the dark, as so many other things had been.

She thought of the people who had given their lives in order to rid the Wizarding World of the darkness that diminished its brilliance and felt another layer of grief and sorrow cover her.

She wasn't supposed to be out after dark, but supposed it was safe enough close to the castle. She didn't dare venture out past her usual haunts, though.

_I felt the earth _

_Beneath my feet_

_Sat by the river and it made me complete_

The steady crunch of the snow beneath her worn boots soothed her. She was shivering from the cold and quakes travelled down her spine from the fright of being out so late. Ginny berated herself for being so terrified of the dark, reasoning with herself that Harry was suffering through so much worse, with the weight of the Wizarding World's expectations sitting heavily on his shoulders, no less. He was more frightened than she, in more danger, and had a lot more to lose. She was in no position to complain.

So she continued down the path, shoving her fists under her arms in a desperate search for warmth. There was nothing out in the Hogwarts grounds for her, yet she continued at her unrelenting pace. Unwanted memories sprung from bits of the area around her she could make out.

Just _there_, she had played in the snow in her first year.

And in the empty spot by the castle walls, she'd spent many a pleasant afternoon with her friends.

The recollections of happier times filled her with contentment, as well as longing and sadness.

_Oh simple thing_

_Where have you gone?_

_I getting old and I need something to rely on_

Tears were brought to her eyes, not from the biting cold, but from the intense _need_ to have those happier times back. They were much too young for this, or maybe the war was simply too old. Where had her carefree childhood gone, only to be replaced by this unreliable, unstable, unsafe world she had yet to figure out?

It made no sense to Ginny. Good people were killed, Death Eaters escaped their prisons, and unforgiving battles were fought. Injuries and curses had to be dealt with, the warning of more fighting hanging over their heads at all times.

There was nothing stable to hang onto anymore. People were being swatted down and killed like flies – on both sides. Letters from home came with a terrifying irregularity, at horridly spaced-out intervals. She needed something to ground her, but it was like her whole world had been flipped upside down and shaken until nothing could hold on anymore.

_So tell me when _

_You're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

There were groups of people coming up with strategies, but there were strains on their numbers and the outreach they had. They were not accepting young applicants, but Ginny believed that soon they would be forced to. It was war, after all. And it was a war they had to win, no matter what. If Harry was the one who had to finish it, she'd be damned if she didn't do everything in her power to help.

But where to begin when tomorrow was an uncertainty? She studied hard, did her work and even extra research. She and a group of friends had continued the DA. But it wasn't enough; there were too many people in their way.

The Carrows, Snape, Voldemort. They were all in the way, and she was too tired of thinking to do anything else. Everyone did what they could, but they were no match for the people in power. Punishments were given out deplorably, and she could feel all of their wills waning as they slowly lost their uphill battle.

There was nothing to start off from, just to go from scratch. Their efforts were not to be underestimated; they did things, little things, but it wasn't going to be enough. They were simply too spread apart and powerless, too tired of war, the fighting, the losses, the all-encompassing wretchedness of their predicament.

_I came across_

_A fallen tree _

_I felt the branches of it looking at me_

She stumbled at something in her path, a tree root. Squinting, Ginny was just able to make out the Whomping Willow. It had been dug up from the ground, it seemed. That should have been impossible, given that it was winter and the ground was frozen, but Ginny knew the people who had been so cruel had no care for the seasons. They had other means of achieving their ends.

The tree was writhing on the ground, thrashing madly. Ginny, now that she had awakened the beastly thing, had to duck to avoid one of the branches that had appeared out of nowhere. Shaken, she took the long way around the trunk, avoiding the crown as best she could. As she walked away, she had the hair-raising feeling of someone watching her.

_Is this this place we used to love?_

_Is this the place I've been dreaming of?_

As she turned a corner, the severity of the crusade against the Whomping Willow hit her hard. Her shaking then gave way from a natural reaction to the cold to the wracks only sobbing could bring. Hogwarts, a place she had always loved and felt safe at, was no longer.

How could this have happened? How could this frightening, eerie, cold, dank, old castle ever have been considered home? When had the changes happened? The previous summer had been the worst of her life, with the magical world in turmoil after the demise of its most admirable leader. She'd been in a constant state of fear that summer. She'd dreamt of the corridors at Hogwarts, the warmth of the Common Room, the security in the knowledge that they would eat like kings every night. There was no such thing as fear at Hogwarts, for it was virtually impenetrable.

But she'd been fooling herself, thinking that nothing would change.

There was no longer comfort at Hogwarts, only the bone-chilling frigidity of evil that uncharitably permeated the entirety of the castle.

_Oh simple thing, where have you gone?_

_I getting old and I need something to rely on_

When had everything wasted away? All her hopes and dreams had been squashed. The simplicity of living was no longer an issue; it was the complexity of staying alive that filled the minds of every Witch and Wizard involved.

The paper that arrived every day without fail, full of lies as it was, listed the deaths that had at some point become old news. There were new names daily, filling pages and pages with the tiny script, but there was no longer the fright of reading a relative's name in the list; it was all but a given.

_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

They needed something to start the war off, because everyone was tired of the small battles that contributed to the list of losses but not to the progression of the war. They were prolonging the inevitable, but that was what it was: inevitable. It was bound to come to a head, this war, and she suspected it would happen sooner rather than later.

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know_

She needed to see Harry one last time. She had to tell him everything before it was all over and done with. There was no guarantee that she wouldn't be one of the bodies to litter the grounds after it all ended, but she wasn't going to go before she spoke with Harry. She knew she had to give him what courage she could, otherwise he would be too weak to defeat Voldemort. She had to let him know he was valued and _loved, _not only for his war efforts but for being Harry. She knew it would fill him with the courage and confidence needed to do what he was meant to.

There was nothing desperate about her wish to tell him what she felt, yet everything those days was. Everything she told anyone could be the last words she was to speak, and every conversation one that could be the last. All she wanted to do was escape. She wanted to put the world on pause so that she could run away from it all. She wanted to go to a secret spot where she was bound to be alone, so that no one would hear her desperation and cries.

_This could be the end of everything _

_So why don't we go_

_Somewhere only we know_

_Somewhere only we know_

One of the approaching days would be the last before everything blew up; taking everything she cared with it. There were lists she had made in head of all the people she wanted to get just one more moment with before the culmination of it all, but like with everything there was no guarantee.

The next battle could be the end, but there could also be years of this limbo before anything happened. Uncertainty was killing her.

_Oh simple thing, where have you gone?_

_I getting old and I need something to rely on_

_So tell me when _

_You're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

She wished there was just black and white; something that was right and something that was wrong. It wouldn't be amiss if there was an instruction manual or something that would aid her in doing what was right. She was just so tired of fighting, of doing things that, in the end, probably wouldn't help anything.

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know_

_This could be the end of everything_

_So why don't we go…_

_So why don't we go…_

Ginny had made a full circle around the castle and ran up the stairs, flinging the doors open behind her and scampering down the halls. She yelled at the Fat Lady and then hurried to her dormitory. Freezing, she burrowed into her covers and closed her eyes.

She could afford to take this one moment to go somewhere no one else could go. If the end was near, she could afford to be frivolous with her time. If she was not destined to do anything great, she could hide within the limits of her mind until called upon.

_Ooh, ooh, this could be the end of everything_

_So why don't we go_

_Somewhere only we know…_

_Somewhere only we know…_

_Somewhere only we know…_


End file.
